Submarine signal bomb



Nbv. 11, 1958 r E. ROLLE 2,859,695

SUBMARINE SIGNAL BOMB Filed Feb. 6, l953 IN V EN TOR.

EDWARD ROL L E ATTORNEY Unite rates The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

This invention relates to emergency signaling devices and more particularly to such devices that are selfcontained and adapted for daytime signaling for communication or as an aid in the location of damaged submerged submarines or other vessels or aircraft, particularly in bodies of water.

Numerous devices have been provided for a similar purpose but they were subject to deterioration, were unreliable in use and the time element between firing and release of the signal could not be accurately preset before the device was fired.

One preferred embodiment of the present invention consists essentially of a bomb which can be fired from a submarine below the surface to indicate by any one or a combination of various colors certain messages which can be observed by surface craft or aircraft. The structure employed is a trigger mechanism having a latch which releases a firing pin for breaking a frangible disc permitting water to enter a chamber containing a wateractivated battery. The voltage generated by the battery on contact with water is transmitted through suitable wires to an electric exploder which ignites a fuse having a predetermined length to determine the time of delay between firing from the submarine and discharge at the surface of the water. A small charge of black powder is attached to the end of the fuse and provides just sufficient pressure to force the end cap off of the bomb tube and eject the quantity of water-marking dye to color the surface of the water.

I One object of the present invention is to provide a signaling device which is particularly useful for daytime signaling in a body of water and will provide a visual signal in the form of coloration of the water above or near a submarine or other body submerged or floating in the water.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a signaling device which is self-contained and is capable of storage for long periods of time without deterioration so that it is available for instant use whenever needed.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a signaling device which is reliable in operation under the severe conditions of shock, internal and external pressure, temperature and moisture during actual operation.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a signaling device which may be ejected from a submarine at various depths and wherein the time element may be readily and quickly varied just prior to firing so that the signaling means will be released after any desired time interval, preferably shortly after but not prior to the device reaching the surface.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a signaling device wherein the powdered dye is released in the most advantageous manner near the surtent face of the water but without scattering the powder in the air.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a pictorial view of a signal bomb with a portion of the casing broken away to show the interior arrangement of parts and illustrating one preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of one end portion of the signal bomb and illustrating the details of construction of the trigger mechanism and the water activated battery.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and more particularly to Fig. 1, a submarine signal bomb is shown illustrating one preferred embodiment of the present invention and consists of an outer casing 10 having a trigger mechanism 12 mounted on a sealing cap 14 to which is also secured a container 16 for the water activated battery or electrical sea cell 18 shown in Fig. 2.

The outer casing 10 also houses the electrical exploder mechanism 20 connected to the sea cell 18 by wires 22 and 24 and operatively joined to a fuse 26 the other end of which extends through a closure 28 for a receptacle 30 containing a charge of black powder or other suitable explosive 32. A bag .of sea marking dye 34 is also mounted within the container adjacent the black powder charge 32 and adjacent a removable end cap 36 for the container 16 which is adapted to be blown off by the pressure created by the burning of the black powder 32 to release the bag of dye 34. r r

The triggering mechanism 12, sealing cap 14 and the container 16 containing the sea cell 18 are shown more clearly in the detailed section of Fig. 2.

The sealing cap 14 is provided with a peripheral groove 40 which is adapted to receive an O-ring or other sealing ring 42 for maintaining a water-tight contact with the outer casing 10. An annular groove 44 on the inner surface of the sealing cap 14 is adapted to receive another O-ring or similar sealing ring 46 for maintaining a watertight contact between the container 16 and the end cap 14. Another annular groove 48 on the outer surface of the sealing cap 14 is adapted to receive an O-ring or other sealing ring 50 for maintaining water-tight contact with the trigger mechanism 12 which is adapted to be screwed into the internally-threaded bore 52 in the sealing cap 14 by means of an externally-threaded projection 54 on the mounting plate 56 which is also provided with a pair of bifurcated posts 58 and 60.

Trigger 62 is mounted between the arms of post 58 on a pivot 64 and is provided with a firing pin 66 which is adapted to penetrate the frangible disc 68. Disc 68 is retained in a recess in the plate 56 against a sealing Washer 7 0 by means of a flanged bushing 72 which is retained in position by screws 74. Trigger 62 is adapted to be released by atripper 76 which is also mounted between the arms of post 58 on a pivot 78. j

The outer ends of trigger 62 and tripper 76 operate between the guide arms of post 60, the tripper being adapted to be held in the position shown in Fig. 2 by a safety pin (not shown) extending into a bore 80 and resiliently mounted in the boss 82, as illustrated in Fig. 1. A retaining key 84 is adapted to be pulled out just prior to use to permit the safety pin to disengage the tripper 76 being urged outwardly by resilient means (not shown) within the boss 82.

The projection 86 on the end of the tripper 76 extends beyond the edge of the plate 56, post 60 and the outer casing 10 and is adapted to be engaged as the bomb is expelled from the submarine for releasing the trigger 62 to be activated by the spring 88 for breaking the frangible disd'68. watermay then enter through the bore 90 into theeeatainerlno"aefime'the' seaeen'isp' i Sea cell 18 may be of any commercially available type which does not generate a voltage when dry, but is adapted to generatessriian'yeuage usually about three volts on contact with water even after a very .longperiod of storage. "The terminals' of emen 18 are connected to :connectors'92and'QEYeXtendingthrough the bottom of the"'container 16am hermetically "sjealed therein.

Theelectricexploder ZD'and fuse- 26 may alsobe obtained commercially and ia're usuallyprovided as an assembled'unit with a long length'bf fuse' which may be cuttoany' desired length. Theifu'selburns slowly at a very uniform rate so that by cuttingfthe proper;- length of fuse 26 attachfed 'to the expldderlil any desired time interval'rnay"be"obtained'from the inoment the bomb is' dischargeduntil it isexplod'ed.

The bomb is ides igned'to be xtremel buoyant which causes ara'p'id rise'to thesur'fa'ce' of the water as soon as it is discharged fr'om' the submarine gun. From knowledge of therate' of rise ofthebomb and the depth of su-bmergence of the submarine, the time required for the "bomb to reach the surface'maybe readily determined and the fuse 26 cut to the properlerigth.

' Operation Inthe use of the device the fuse 26 is cut to the proper length from the exp1oder20 in accordance with the p'ro cedure noted supra and the cut end is inserted in the closure '28 of the explosive receptacle'30. :The sealing cap 14 with the trigger'mechanism 12 attached may be quickly inserted 'in theoutercasing 10, 'theretaining key 84 removed to arm the trigger'mechanism 12 and the li bomb inserted in the di'scharge 'tube for'firing.

' 'As the bomb is' fired the projection 86 is' engaged by an abutment in the discharge tube (not shown) releasing trigger 62 which is driven by the spring 88 so that the firing pin 66 breaks the frangible disc 68. As soon as the bomb enters the water, thewater will pass through the bore '90 into the container 16- and will activate the sea cell which, in turn, will fire the exploder'20 and start the burning of the fuse 26. After the fuse 26 has burned forthe predetermined interval'of time,the charge of black: powder or other explosive 32 is'set oif, preferably after the bomb has reached the Surface and is lyingflat on the surface of the water, so that as "it explodes the bag of powdered dye 34'is expelled into 'the' water with little or no dye being lost in'the air.'

It will be apparent that the amount of black powder or explosive 32 required-will be ae'pendem on the specific design of the bomb; particularly-"the manner in which theend cap 36'is attached to the'ou'ter'casing- 10, and should be'such that the pressure -developed"will,be just sufficient to force oif' the end" c'ap '36' -and' expel the bag of dye 34.into'the water.

While it-is preferred to use a 'bag of loose powdered dye forsignaling purposes, the dye charge may alternatively consi'st'of a cylindrical block which will disintegrate and 'dissolvel quickly in the waterafter expulsion. Furthermore, it may be desirable to substitute for or combine'with' the water-marking dyemeans-for-"sending up a parachute flare or a smoke cloud or any other desired signaling means;

In the preferred embodiment the center of gravity of the bomb'i's arranged so that the bornb'will lie flatten the surface of the water as it explodes for the reasons set forth supra, but in other instances, such as for use with a '1 parachute flare or smoke cloud, it may be desirable to I a design the bomb or weight it so that the end cap 36 will f extend upwardly as the bomb is floating in the water.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light'of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be 1 practiced otherwise than as specifically described What is claimed is:

A submarine signal bomb comprising an open-ended cylindrical outercasing, a removable end cap'herineti'cally r v sealed at one end of said casing and adapted to be readily J blown ofl? of said end of said casing, a bag of sea-marking dye positioned within said casing adjacent said end cap, a a sealing cap having aflange overlying the opposite end] of said casing and a reduced neck portion snugly received within said opposite end, a first annular groove on -thef periphery of said neck portion, second and third annular grooves on the respective inner and outer faces of said sealing cap, first, second and third sealing rings in respec- V tive grooves, an integrallcontainer having a closed end wall and a flanged open end portion secured to and her:

metically sealed against the inner face of said sealing' capf and said second ring, said sealing cap having an internally threaded bore, a trigger mechanism having a reduced neck cap and mechanism comprise a unitary structure which maybe secured to or detached from'said casing as a in unit, said trigger mechanism having a bore extending therethrough and communicating with said container and the surrounding water, a frangible disc closing said bore in sealing relation thereto, said trigger mechanism having means for breaking said frangible disc adapted to be ac-" tuatedby'expulsion of said bomb from a submarine-an; electric cell positioned within said container, said electric cell being adapted to be actuated by water entering said, i U container for generating an electrical voltage, an electrical exploder mechanism mounted within said casing aaa'o eratively connected to said cell for actuation thereby,- an, explosive charge in said casing for blowing'oif sateen, cap and ejecting said bag of dye, an elongated coiled ruse; operatively connected to and between said'exploderaiid.

charge arldhaving a substantially uniform burning me;

throughout its length wherebyit may be severdtd ptedetermined lengthto provide a certain time delay between firing of said' btimb and explosion of said' charge.

References Cited in the file of this patent 

